


'tis the damn season

by Harryissuchalittleshit



Series: The Imprint Anthology [8]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Age Difference, Bonus!, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, I do love Ava and Zac though, Smut, Taylor Swift inspired, an imprint story that doesn't focus on the imprint part, happy new years everyone!, this really is just an excuse to work on my smut writting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28488927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harryissuchalittleshit/pseuds/Harryissuchalittleshit
Summary: Ava is home for the holidays, and she knows that her life won't be the same after.
Relationships: Ava Fuller/Zac Uley
Series: The Imprint Anthology [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674550
Kudos: 1





	'tis the damn season

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be happy if anyone reads this, but also won't be surprised if no one reads this. There are parts of this that are shameless smut that I wanted to take my hand at writing. I do love this family though and how Ava grows from a scared twenty-two year old girl and into a women that knows what she wants and who she loves.
> 
> Also, Ava is one of Brady and Rose's daughters from 'How' and Zac is Emily and Sam's only son.

**‘tis the damn season**

By Taylor Swift

_If I wanted to know who you were hanging with_

_While I was gone I would have asked you_

_It's the kind of cold, fogs up windshield glass_

_But I felt it when I passed you_

_There's an ache in you put there by the ache in me_

_But if it's all the same to you_

_It's the same to me_

_So we could call it even_

_You could call me babe for the weekend_

_'Tis the damn season, write this down_

_I'm stayin' at my parents' house_

_And the road not taken looks real good now_

_And it always leads to you in my hometown_

_I parkеd my car right between the Methodist_

_And thе school that used to be ours_

_The holidays linger like bad perfume_

_You can run, but only so far_

_I escaped it too, remember how you watched me leave_

_But if it's okay with you, it's okay with me_

_We could call it even_

_You could call me babe for the weekend_

_'Tis the damn season, write this down_

_I'm stayin' at my parents' house_

_And the road not taken looks real good now_

* * *

Ava stared out the window, nothing ever changed here.

She sat in the passenger seat of her father’s old truck and stared at the greenery. Everything was covered in a light dusting of frost and snow. Everything looked soft and fuzzy around the edges, she was home for the holiday.

‘ _Tis the goddamn season._

“You’re mother and I are so happy that you could make it home, sweetheart,” said Brady as Ava picked her head up and looked at him. Her father was a kind man, sweet and dependable, familiar and loving.

Ava nodded and smiled at him, she ran her fingers through her long dark hair and turned back to the window. “I figured it was only right, after two years away.”

Two years away at school in LA, over a thousand miles away from everything that she knew. It was loud and chaotic and crazy compared to the quiet of La Push. She left for her master’s degree and would return after the holidays were through. Her Doctorate was waiting for her and she was excited to get the opportunity to continue her studies.

But something had been calling her home, something needy and wanting. She wasn’t meant to be away from her hometown for such a long time. She was meant to be home with her family, with her friends, with her siblings and nieces and nephews, with him.

Zachariah David Uley was waiting for her return and she was getting closer and closer to him with each mile they drove.

Ava felt her heart beat hard in her chest as they turned down the road to her childhood home. In the driveway was an overflow of cars, she wasn’t the only one coming home this season.

But she was the only one who didn’t have another home to return to.

She was _staying at her parents’ house_ , home for three weeks that would only feel like a long weekend. She had six siblings, with a ten year age difference between her oldest brother and youngest brother, the bookends of the family.

But even her brothers had more in their lives than she seemed to.

Harry had Terra and their four kids, Henry had a son who was a few months old and a girl who wanted to marry him.

Ava was used to the flurry of noise that accompanied any homecoming. She was the second youngest of seven, she was born into noise and excitement. She wasn’t surprised when her siblings crowded around her and pulled her close, nor was she surprised when her mother pushed them all away to pull her close.

She was home for the holidays, nothing more and nothing less.

~`~

Ava stared out at the water, unlike LA, it was freezing here. Home was always cold, always dark and dreary and haunting. But it was _home_ , and that was all that mattered.

Her second oldest brother Hayden had tried to fill her in on everything that she had missed over the last two years. All the things that didn’t fit into a text message or phone call. Hayden was the only one of her siblings that wasn’t beside himself over a wife or husband or a baby.

Hayden tried to tell her about Zac, but she didn’t care to listen.

They would find one another eventually, they always did.

She could feel the ache that they shared for one another growing stronger and stronger the closer she got to him. Home had a funny way of bringing up all the aches, all of the longings, all of the memories.

“You’ll catch a cold out here,” said Zac as he sat down beside her. He was dressed in just a pair of cutoffs and an unbuttoned flannel hanging off of his shoulders. Ava once wondered what it would be like to never be cold.

“I’m not cold.”

Zac made a noise and Ava turned to look at him, he looked the same as the last time she had seen him, though his hair was just slightly longer. He looked handsome, but she had always thought that of him.

“Come on, I’ll make you something to drink.”

Ava watched as he got to his feet, he was still gangly, with long arms and legs, long fingers reaching for her. Ava stared at his hand, and let him pull her to her feet, she didn’t know what was going to happen next, she knew what she wanted, but she was used to being turned down.

Zac’s fingers tangled with hers and they walked quietly along the beach to his house. It was big, she had been over before under much of the same circumstances. He had three extra bedrooms, meant to be filled with children someday.

Ava always wanted a big family, and she knew Zac did also.

~`~

Ava stared at each of the photos, she knew every person in each of them. Her friends, her family, everyone that she grew up with and knew. Some of them still looked the same now as when the photos were taken, boys in cut offs and bare feet and chests.

She paused at one, her high school graduation. It was the same photo that her mother had hanging up in the living room back home.

It felt too invasive, even though she knew that Zac wasn’t the only one with a copy of this picture, or a copy of her last two graduations. She had been dressed in red for her high school graduation, blue when she got her bachelors, and black for her masters. Her parents had been the only ones to make it for her master’s graduation.

“Here,” said Zac, appearing at her side and handing her a mug of tea. Ava took a sip and was surprised by the sharp taste of whiskey. “You look better now, but this will help.”

Ava let him lead her over to the small couch and sat down beside him. She held her mug carefully in her hands and stared down at the golden liquid.

“What are we supposed to be Zac?” asked Ava, tracing her finger around the lip of her mug. She kept her eyes focused on the gold in her cup. “I know five years is a bigger age difference, but Claire and Quil have nine more years than us.”

“You’re just home for the holidays, Ava,” said Zac, and Ava made herself look up at him. Zac was always handsome, he looked like his father; strong jawline, sharp cheekbones, silky hair, a warm smile. He had his mother’s eyes, soft and pretty, they were hazel and Ava knew that she could find them in any lineup. “Don’t worry.”

Ava rolled her eyes, this was the issue, she had lived over a thousand miles for the last two years and she had felt the distance. She knew that he had to of felt it also. Ava felt her heart beat wild in her chest as she set her mug down on the coffee table and moved closer to Zac.

His hair was soft against her fingertips and his mouth was even softer against hers. Ava closed her eyes and moaned softly as he kissed her back. His mouth felt warm and comfortable and perfect against her own, it was different than any other guy who had ever kissed her.

She let him wrap his arm around her waist and pull her into his lap. His mouth never leaving hers as she held onto his hair.

Ava pulled away only to pull off her sweater and unclasp her bra. She grabbed one of Zac’s hands and let him squeeze her breast. His lips pressed to her jaw, then her neck and collarbone, before moving down her chest.

She was only home for the holidays.

Zac pushed her back into the couch, unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them down her legs, before sitting back and looking at her. She had been in this position before, but not with someone that had known her since she was born.

“I’m on birth control,” Ava told him, feeling more naked with his eyes on her than when he was taking off her clothes. “You don’t need a condom.”

Zac nodded, but stayed where he was, looming over her. Ava felt self-conscious as she sat up and finished pushing her jeans off her legs. She pushed her panties off and reached up to take her hair out of the braids her sister-in-law Terra had put in that morning.

She never wanted something as much as she wanted this, including when she had sex with her first boyfriend Caillum Welch. That had been awkward and weird and uncomfortable, but she hadn’t gotten pregnant and she got her first time out of the way.

She broke up with him three weeks later after he asked her to move in with him in Forks instead of take her scholarship in Seattle.

“You don’t want me,” said Zac, sitting down heavily on the other side of the couch. “No one does.”

“I wouldn’t have let you take off my jeans if that was the case, Zac,” said Ava, as she reached across the couch to take his hand. “I wouldn’t have even kissed you.”

“I know I’m just a one night stand to you, but this is more serious to me Ava.”

Ava bit her lip, she moved forward and pressed her mouth back to his, curling her fingers into his hair again. She sighed when he pressed kisses into her jaw and neck, his hands were warm on her skin as he wrapped his arm around her waist again.

“I’m home for the holidays, but this isn’t about that,” she told him, as he kissed her neck. She moaned as his hand moved down between her thighs, reaching farther and farther up her leg.

Ava kissed him, reaching for the zipper on his cut-offs and pulling down hard. She pressed her face into his shoulder as he pressed a finger into the space in between her legs. She gasped as he quickly pushed a second and third finger into her.

Her stomach tightened hard inside of her and she bit down on his shoulder, knowing that it wouldn’t leave a mark on his skin by tomorrow.

He was uncomfortably hard in her hand as she wrapped her hand around his length. He was bigger than any of the other guys she had ever slept with.

“That feels good,” moaned Zac as he kissed her neck and shoulders. He was thrusting into her hand, while his own moved over her body, squeezing her breasts and gripping her hips.

“I’m ready if you are,” Ava told him as she trailed a hand down his spine. Her other hand still gripping him, she kissed his neck and bit his shoulder as he came into her hand and on her leg.

Ava climbed out from under him and went to the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the steam fill the room. The water burned her skin, but it was all she needed. The heat was nearly as warm as Zac on top of her.

She wrapped herself up in a towel and dried her hair, letting it hang loose around her shoulders and down her back. She stepped out of the bathroom and found Zac where she left him on the couch.

Her hot toddy was cold and it tasted more like whiskey than tea or honey.

“I know I’m home for the holidays, but that doesn’t mean we have to be for just the holidays,” Ava told him as she brushed her hair with her fingers. She looked at him, he was all hard lines and warm skin and absolutely beautiful.

Zac put a hand on her shoulder and curled his fingers into her hair.

“What does that mean for me then?”

“It means that after another two years I can come home,” said Ava, fidgeting in her towel and turning to look up at him. “I can do online classes after that, I don’t have to teach, and I can work out of Port Angeles…or you can come down with me and we can live in LA for the next two-two and half years.”

It was an offer, an offer that she should’ve made two years ago.

Jumping on a plane by herself two years ago to move down to LA had been scary, but so had jumping on a plane two days ago to come home. LA was loud and scary and she hadn’t felt safe, even on campus, even surrounded by people that she was supposed to trust and know and were meant to take care of her.

“I can’t leave.”

“I can’t stay here.”

Zac leaned over and Ava closed her eyes as his lips brushed against her shoulder, against her neck, and then finally against her lips. She let him push her towel off of her, he was making her new with his mouth and lips and hands on her body.

She opened her eyes when he pulled away. Zac was on his feet, his face a twist of something cold and angry and familiar. It was a look she had seen on all of her brothers at one point in her life, it was anger, but it wasn’t directed at her.

“I just can’t leave,” said Zac, falling down to the floor and Ava knew better than to touch him.

They weren’t meant to run away, neither of them we’re like Mackenzie. They couldn’t run, they could only wait.

“I want to finish school,” said Ava, pulling her knees up into her chest. Her throat felt tight with sudden emotion, it wouldn’t be like this if he just fucked her like she wanted. “I want to get my PhD, I want to open up a practice here Zac. Jessica can run around the world with her husband, but if we ever figure this out, if we get married and have children, we can only do it here.”

They both knew that ‘if’ in this situation meant when. There was no denying the connection anymore.

“I can’t force you to stop your dream,” said Zac, looking up at her. She didn’t like how caged off she felt right now.

“‘ _Tis the damn season_ ,” said Ava, because the song had been stuck in her head since she heard it in the airport before getting on her plane. “Are you going to touch me again? Or should I go home?”

“Let me drive you home.”

~`~

Ava stared at the dark windows, it was late, no one was home except her parents. All of her siblings had real homes now…she was the only one tied down to this house.

“Come up for a cup of tea,” said Ava as Zac turned off his truck. The warm familiar rumbling stopped and the only sound was the water that they could hear everywhere in La Push.

“I should go to bed.”

Ava nodded and opened the door to the truck, it was covered in mud, dirty and stained until it rained again. She lived on a back road, on _a road not taken_ by anyone except those who lived on it. She started walking up the steps to the apartment over the dance studio.

She didn’t turn around when she heard the other door slam shut. But she kept the apartment door open until he grabbed it. The apartment was freezing because no one lived up there anymore. The dance studio was also closed until after the New Year because there were no classes until then.

Ava took off her coat and hat and started filling the kettle. She knew that the next few moments would determine everything, if Zac kissed her, or even touched her, they would never bother with the tea.

Zac pressed his fingers to her lower back, where her sweater had rode up and Ava turned around. His mouth was hard against hers, and his hand tangled up into her hair. She didn’t know who pushed her sweater off, but she wriggled out of her jeans and took his cutoffs off of him. They stumbled back into the bed and Ava moaned as he pushed into her. She felt her body stretch to accompany him, he was unlike any of the other guys she had taken to bed.

His mouth stayed on hers, hard and needy as his hips pushed and pulled against hers in an addicting snapping motion. Ava moaned as he squeezed her breasts and rolled her nipples in between his thumb and fingers.

This wasn’t what she ever expected him to be like. She knew that he had slept with Collie a few times and Maria Weston and a few girls from Forks. He was once a teenage boy who had wants and needs and pretty girls following after him. He even had three children that he technically fathered through surrogacy.

She knew that he had only donated and it was all Collie and Riley who did the work, but he was experienced before she was even really thinking about sex.

She had lost her virginity the same night that Zac had told her he imprinted on her.

“Please?” she moaned between kisses, Zac’s hips were snapping harder against hers and her stomach was tight enough to bounce a quarter off of. She wasn’t going to last much longer if he kept fucking her like he was. “Please Zac, please?”

She bit down on his shoulder, not caring if it bruised, not caring if anyone heard them scream. Her bliss came suddenly, almost unexpectedly quick, but he didn’t stop and Ava felt her eyes roll back into her head.

She didn’t know if it was seconds or minutes or even hours before she could breathe again. Her heart was beating in her ears and out of her chest. Zac was still inside of her heat radiating into her body as he lazily thrusted into her.

Ava looked up at him, his hands were soft on her knees as he relaxed into her body. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her softly, over and over again. His free hand moved down to her ass, squeezing softly before moving back up to her breast, rolling her hard nipple in his fingers again.

She could feel sweat freezing against her overheated skin. Her hair was sticking to her skin and she knew that she would need another shower before she saw her parents in the morning. She was suddenly thankful that she had an implantation for her birth control.

Zac pulled himself out of her and they both groaned louder than either of them expected. Ava felt used suddenly, even as Zac kissed her and moved the hand off of her waist and down to her clit. Her third orgasm came quicker than the first two, and she felt tears slip from her eyes as she kissed his neck and chest. She didn’t realize she was dragging her nails down his back until he cried out in a mix of pain and shock.

She pushed him down into the bed and wrapped her hand around his half-hard cock. She kissed his balls and rubbed them with her free hand before kissing and licking his length before sucking the tip into her mouth.

It had been a while since she had given a blow job, but judging by Zac’s moans she wasn’t disappointing. She fit as much of him as she could, hollowing her cheeks and squeezing his balls softly in her hand.

She softly ran her thumb along the underside of his cock, massaging him as well as she could as she felt her spit on her hands. Zac’s moans growing louder each time she flicked her tongue. She wanted to touch herself, but watching Zac’s shoulders thrash and hearing him moan her name softly was more than enough.

“Ava…Ava baby,” groaned Zac as she squeezed his balls hard in her hand and squeezed his length with her other. “Ava baby I’m going to-“

She swallowed the thick stream as it went down her throat and was thankful for her real lack of a gag reflex. She kissed her way up his body, even as his hands grabbed her shoulders and tried to pull her up to him. She kissed his lips and sighed as his tongue slipped into her mouth, he was already hard again against her thigh and Ava had to admit that she was impressed.

She straddled his hips and felt his hand warm on her ass as he slipped inside of her. Right now, this was all she wanted, him inside of her and nothing more.

Ava sat up, pulling on Zac’s shoulders so she could keep kissing him. She grind her hips against his, feeling his length worm it’s way more and more inside of her. It was the most organic feeling, having Zac inside of her, his hands on her body, his mouth of hers.

“I like it when you call me baby,” whispered Ava, as she touched his face, softly tracing her fingers along his cheekbones, her other arm was wrapped around his neck keeping him close. He had one hand on her ass and the other moving up and down her spine.

“I liked that thing you did with your tongue,” whispered Zac as he grabbed her fingers and pressed them to his mouth. “… _baby_.”

Ava kissed him, ignoring the gray sunlight filtering into the room. She was fine with their night never ending, even though she knew that she needed to go to the main house and take a shower and go to her brother’s to babysit. Her body already felt sore, she knew her legs were going to wobble and cramp up when she climbed out of the bed, let alone put her clothes back on and walked down the stairs.

“Marry me before you leave.”

Ava knew that this was the tipping point. They could go one way or the other, either she would say yes and it world work, or she would say yes and she would cheat on him anyways. The…the yes, that was inevitable, no matter what happened from there, from this moment forward, they belonged in each other’s future.

“I always thought I would be knocked up before I got married.”

She heard herself sob before she felt the tears spill from her eyes, she sat up in the tiny full size bed and wrapped her arms around herself. She was going to school to become a therapist because their community needed one, her mother needed one when she was younger and Ava needed one when she was even younger.

Ava felt Zac move in the bed beside her, his back pressed to hers as she tried to make herself grounded. Her anxiety was building and building and she knew that she wouldn’t last much longer. She would be comatose in moments.

“We can arrange that.”

His words knocked her out of the toxic head space she had allowed herself to fall into. And Ava turned around to look at him, there were no marks on his skin from where she bit him, scratched him, marked him as hers.

She kissed his neck, and knew that she wasn’t going to make it to her brother’s in time. She needed to make an appointment at Planned Parenthood.

~`~

Ava stared at the positive pregnancy test and the gold band on her left hand. She knew that Zac was waiting for her phone call, the wedding band had been first, placed on her finger in a ceremony that was only her, Zac, Jacob, and Leah.

They had been married in Jacob and Leah’s kitchen, an hour after they got back from the Planned Parenthood in Port Angeles. Her mother had been furious, her father sad, and it had been the other way around for Zac’s parents.

He had driven her down to the airport in Seattle, and now she was having his baby.

She had two years left of school, and now she was going to have a baby. She had known Zac her whole life, he had been five and a few months old when she had entered the world. She had never known a life without Zachariah David Uley in it.

His words still floated around in her head, the promise that he would be waiting for her, that he would love her and care for her, that he would always call her ‘baby’. He promised her that she would always be Ava Elena Fuller if she wanted to be, and she had taken him on that offer.

If she was going to be a doctor, then she was going to be Dr. Ava Elena Fuller.

“I’m pregnant,” whispered Ava as she cradled her stomach and stared at the seven positive pregnancy tests. She had been holding onto them for the last week, they made the deal to call each other twice a day, and to write each other once a week.

They texted and emailed all the time, they had four different conversations across four different apps at any given time. But hearing his voice or seeing his face over Facetime calmed all of the stresses, all of her anxieties.

She missed having sex with him, watching him shave every morning, feeling his hand on her lower back. They had two full weeks together, not including Christmas day which they spent apart and with their own families.

“I thought that was a joke,” said Zac as she laid on her dirty bathroom floor. She needed to take a shower still for the day, but she didn’t care. “You weren’t supposed to actually get pregnant until I came to see you for spring break.”

“I know I’m crying, but I’m actually really happy,” whispered Ava, ignoring his words. She twisted her fingers up into her hair and wished that Zac was in between her legs right now. “We’re having a baby.”

“Ava,” said Zac and then the line went dead, just for Zac to call her back with video. She answered and stared at his face, ignoring her own red rimmed eyes in the bottom screen. “Baby girl, we can’t be pregnant. Tell me you’re joking.”

“I have an appointment at Planned Parenthood tomorrow to confirm,” Ava told him, cradling her stomach again as she reached for her hairbrush. She didn’t know how it got on the floor, but she also didn’t care.

She was pregnant.

“I told you that I wanted to be knocked up if I got married.”

“I’m sure it happened after, baby,” said Zac, and Ava watched as he teared up himself. She wiped at her eyes and wished desperately that he was here with her. That he was trapped with her in her tiny studio apartment.

“I wish you could fuck me right now,” said Ava, reaching for the hem of her tank-top and pulling it off over her head, giving him a full view of her chest and stomach. She cupped her breasts in her hands and squeezed softly, they felt tender and sore, it was the reason why she started taking the pregnancy tests in the first place.

“I’m coming down there.”

“No,” said Ava, because he needed to work, needed to keep his job, and…and she needed to study, earn her degree. “You’re going to stay there and come down for spring break like we planned, and then I’ll have the baby and when I come home for the holidays, you’ll be waiting for us.”

They couldn’t afford anything different, the plan had always been this, though Zac was right about her not getting pregnant until he came down in April. She would have their baby by herself, raise them on her own for the first few months until she could be back with Zac in La Push.

The deal had originally been that she would get pregnant in April, have the baby when she was home for the holidays and Zac would care for the baby until she graduated.

She was four months early now.

Ava pushed her shorts down her legs, giving Zac the full view of her naked body. She didn’t have a bump, just tender breasts and tears in her eyes, but dipping her fingers between her legs and staring at his face did make her come quickly. She knew that it was something about hormones changing her body, making her more emotional, causing her veins to swell, giving her heartburn and non-‘morning’ sickness.

When she was done, she threw up in the toilet and started the shower. Zac watching her on the other side of the phone crying as she sobbed under the stream of cold water.

She was never one to wait, her mother had been put on bedrest because Ava was too determined to come out of her. She had been born at twenty-nine weeks, but all the doctors could’ve sworn that she was a full term baby, just on the lighter side.

She had screamed into the world early, and her baby brother Henry had been a C-section because he stayed in too long.

“I said yes because we have always been meant to be with each other,” Ava whispered into the phone, their eyes were bloodshot, and Zac hadn’t moved from where he was sitting. “I have never lived in a world where you didn’t exist Zachariah David Uley. Our baby is meant to be with us now, you know that, darling.”

She let the word ‘darling’ slip out of her mouth, and she watched as Zac’s face twisted into pure agony. Her own heart grew tight as he began openly sobbing in front of her, and Ava suddenly knew that sleep wasn’t coming for them tonight.

She wanted to reach through the screen and touch him, but instead she felt her stomach roll hard and she did all she could to make it to the toilet in time. She only went back to her bed to grab her pillow and the blanket she had snagged off of the bed in the apartment over the dance studio.

It still smelled like him.

“ _So I’ll go back to LA and the so-called friends, who’ll write books about me if I ever make it_ ,” whispered Ava, holding her stomach and feeling it twist under her hand. “ _And wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I’m faking_.”

Her heart was breaking the same way it had when she jumped on the plane two years ago to send herself down to LA for school. Except this time, her stomach couldn’t keep anything down and her sobs were joined with someone else’s.

~`~

Ava kissed Zac and smiled as his fingers pressed to the slight bulge of her stomach. She was only seventeen weeks along, but it was obvious that she was expecting now. All of her professors were happy for her, she got along with all of them rather well.

“Good morning baby,” whispered Zac between kisses as he held her. “And good morning baby.”

Ava giggled as he kissed her stomach and wrapped his arms tight around her waist. She brushed her fingers through his hair and smiled as the stubble on his cheeks scratched against her stomach and hips and thighs.

She didn’t want him to leave, but their time together was coming to an end. Ava sighed as he touched her stomach again, the next time she would see him in person, she would be about to have birth.

He had traded in the round trip ticket they had bought back in January for April, and changed it to September. She was due on September first, but that didn’t matter to them. He would be arriving back in LA on August thirtieth and leaving on September seventh.

She didn’t know if he would have the baby with him when he left, her apartment was already filled with clothes from her friends, she had a bassinet for the baby to sleep in, and a car seat to bring their baby home in.

Her mother had sent her money for a stroller with Zac, but she didn’t know if she wanted to use it for that or not.

“We should get going,” whispered Zac and Ava nodded as he scooped her up in his arms and carted her off to the bathroom. Her shower was barely big enough for her before she got pregnant, but somehow they managed to fit in together.

They walked into the clinic, hand-in-hand and Ava knew that everyone was surprised by the fact that Zac was with her. She had two appointments a month since she had made her first appointment at four weeks along.

“This is the mysterious husband?” asked Olivia, the front desk receptionist, and Ava nodded. During her master’s she volunteered at the clinic, sitting in on some of the therapy sessions and helping behind the reception desk. “He’s more handsome than any of the photos you showed me.”

“This is Zachariah,” Ava told her, as Zac kissed her forehead, she pushed his face away and giggled. “You can just call him Zac.”

“Mysterious husband?” asked Zac and Ava smiled up at him. She felt his fingers in her hair and pulled softly, before kissing her forehead again. “I thought you told everyone about me?”

“She did after we made her,” said Olivia and Ava laced her fingers through Zac’s. “She can’t just turn up here pregnant and with a wedding band on with no explanation, when we all saw her two months before.”

“It was a surprise that she accepted,” said Zac as Ava signed herself in. “We we’re planning to get pregnant when I visited this week and not before she came back down to school after the holidays.”

Ava pressed her hand to her stomach and caught Olivia’s eyes, no one cared about when she got pregnant. Olivia cared about when she got married, because Ava had never told anyone about Zac. The connection they had always shared was something that she didn’t want to talk about, no one would understand that they were always meant for one another.

“It was nice to meet you, Zac,” said Olivia as she smiled at Zac and Ava knew that she would be stuck explaining him to Olivia her next visit. “Congratulations on locking Ava down.”

“It was just a matter of waiting for her to want me like I wanted her,” said Zac as he put his hand on her lower back. She walked down the hallway, she knew exactly where she needed to go.

Zac sat on the table beside her until Dr. Lyn came in. Everything was routine, her blood pressure was normal, her physical exam went well, Zac’s history checked out. Then it was time to see their baby.

Ava counted fingers and toes, she stared at the round curve of a spine, a small nose and two eyes. She wanted to hold this tiny body in her hands, feel the soft warm skin of her baby. She wanted Zac to stay with her as she figured out how to be a mother to something so small and precious and wonderful.

“Do you want to know the gender?”

“It’s a girl,” said Ava, because she had been dreaming about a little girl with Zac’s eyes since before the first pregnancy test came out positive. She had also been dreaming about a pink nursery with bows and ribbons and all the frills, even if they weren’t _those_ kind of people.

Dr. Lyn raised an eyebrow and Zac nodded beside her as he held her hand tight.

He knew that she was right, she had told him on the phone weeks ago, after her first scan.

“Yes, you’re right.”

~`~

Ava sat in the back seat of the Uber.

Her contractions were two minutes apart and get faster. She wasn’t due for another month, but her daughter seemed to be just as stubborn as her. At least it was the weekend, she wouldn’t be missing any classes, though she was sure that childbirth would get her a week off.

She had finished all of her papers for the end of the summer session two weeks ago, but it didn’t excuse missing a class.

“Are you going to get that?”

Ava hadn’t even heard her phone ring, but it didn’t matter now. Her parents were upset that she had sent Zac home with an ultrasound picture as the announcement that she was expecting. They were already angry that she got married without telling them, but adding on a baby was something else.

“Hello,” said Ava between clenched teeth as she tried to keep herself from screaming. Her body hurt like nothing else before, her daughter was ready to meet the world.

“I’m getting on a plane. She’s just like you.”

Ava closed her eyes and let out a small sob, her whole body was working against her. She wanted to wait until she was at the hospital, but it didn’t seem to be going that way.

“Pull over,” Ava told the driver, “call an ambulance or something.”

“You’re not having a baby in my backseat!”

She didn’t have a choice, she held her phone against her ear and screamed as her muscles contracted and pushed her daughter out of her. She was here, a tiny screaming entity with dark hair and dark eyes. Ava scooped her up into her arms and held her against her dress, cradling her against her chest as she sobbed.

Her Uber driver was screaming and she could hear Zac yelling over the phone, her daughter was quiet as she curled her tiny fingers into the fabric of her dress. Ava wiped the blood off of her face and kissed her sticky forehead, she was a mother now.

Ava had come into the world on the kitchen table, eleven weeks early, but healthy and whole.

Marianna came into the world five weeks early, healthy and whole and a beacon of love and life.

~`~

“Ava…Ava…baby girl…oh, baby girl…” moaned Zac into Ava’s neck as she grind her hips hard against his. Marianna and Eleanora were both asleep in the nursery, and Ava felt the pleasure mounting between her legs as Zac kissed her and squeezed her tender breasts.

Their third baby and first son wasn’t due until June, but they were shooting for the goal of May. Eleanora had come even earlier than her older sister, and the competition didn’t stop there.

Ava rocked her hips hard against his, desperately trying to be closer to him. She could only do so much with her baby bump in the way, but it didn’t matter.

Zac pushed her down onto their bed and finished inside of her, making her moan as their son kicked hard against her stomach. She could hear their daughter’s quiet snoring as Zac kissed her and traced the curves of her body.

She got pregnant with Eleanora quickly after Marianna, they were conceived a year apart and born within eleven months of each other. She kept Marianna with her, and when she went into labor with Eleanora, Zac was already there.

It was less traumatic, Eleanora was born in the clinic with both of her parents and not in the back of an Uber. But saying goodbye to Marianna a few days later, that had been haunting.

She needed to be in La Push though, Ava had to focus on Eleanora, and two days after Zac and Marianna left, she got approval for her dissertation.

She left Eleanora with Zac when she went back home, and took Hayden and Henry with her to pack up her apartment when she went back to LA. She came back and finally, finally they got to be a family.

“You want to fly down for graduation, don’t you?” asked Zac, later as Ava held Eleanora to her chest, letting her feed from her breast. Marianna still came to her when she had a bad dream or a hard day, she still liked to nurse for the comfort of it, and Ava liked the warm feeling of her daughters needing her.

Eleanora’s mouth was familiar and warm and Ava smiled as Zac kissed their daughter’s chubby little cheek. Marianna was asleep against her stomach, her face pressed into the tight skin and her thumb in her mouth.

“We’ll have a newborn.”

“That’s not an answer and you know that,” said Zac and Ava nodded. Eleanora pulled away from her and Zac picked both her and Marianna up before whisking them back to their pink and bright bedroom.

Zac pushed his fingers in between her legs and rubbed her clit, it was how this began, how she got pregnant with their son, with Eleanora, with Marianna. Ava loved Zac making love to her body, each of his kisses were like fire and each touch like overwhelming desire. She was already pregnant, but protection had never worried them, even after Eleanora was born so quickly after Marianna.

“If you keep…keep making love to…to me like this,” whispered Ava between kisses as his hips slapped against hers. “Then I’ll…I’ll never be able to leave…this…this bed.”

She bit his shoulder to keep from crying out, the mark would be gone in the morning, like all the others. The very thought of leaving their bed, _the warmest bed she had ever known_ , was haunting.

“Do you want to fly down for graduation?” whispered Zac, as he curled up around her and held her close to his chest. Ava twisted the wedding band on his finger, his hand was cradling her stomach carefully, as if she was going break if she gave the wrong answer.

She knew that the honest answer and the wrong answer were the same.

“Yes,” whispered Ava, as she stilled her hands, and tried to focus only on the movement inside of her stomach. They still had yet to decide on a name.

“Good,” whispered Zac and Ava felt his hand reach up and gently wiped away her tears. “Your parents will be excited.”

Ava nodded as Zac kissed her neck and bare shoulders, their bedroom was always cold, but their _bed was the warmest place she had ever known_. It was where they came together, where their daughters went to for comfort, where they all fell asleep easy.

“I think we should name baby boy Joshua,” whispered Zac and Ava looked down at her stomach. They had yet to really piss off Zac’s parents yet, but this might put them over the edge. Her own parents had been upset about everything they had done, their quick marriage, all three of their sudden pregnancies, even her moving back home to be with her husband and daughters seemed to disappoint them.

It was as if they didn’t know that she wanted to be there. She wanted her children to be together, to be raised by two parents and not one parent half of the time. She wanted a household like the one she grew up in, and she wanted a family as big as the one she was born into.

Zac joked once about them having six kids, but he didn’t know until she agreed with him that she did seriously want that. She honestly didn’t mind being pregnant, except for the non-‘morning’ sickness that she suffered through each time.

It was how she knew she was pregnant the last two times.

“Joshua Samuel Uley,” whispered Ava as their son kicked her hand. “I like it.”

~`~

Ava looked down at Joshua in her arms, she was quite impressed with him and how well he acted on the plane. He and the girls had all slept for the three hour flight, they had been good for her and Zac and her parents, letting Ava sleep with them for what felt like the first time since Marianna was born.

“Is that the youngest one?” asked Charlotte Burns, they had several of the same classes in both of their degrees. They were both in psychology, but Charlotte wanted to teach and Ava was going to fix people.

“His name is Joshua,” Ava told her as she handed him over. Charlotte carefully cradled Joshua and smiled down at him. “Named after Zac’s grandfather, thought we would piss off his parents for once instead of mine.”

“Grandparents aren’t always what their cracked up to be,” said Charlotte and Ava nodded, she knew what she meant. She didn’t have any grandparents to write home about either, both of her grandmothers had died when her parents were young and both of her grandfathers had left her parents.

“Well my parents do a good job being there for us and the kids,” said Ava, finding her family in the crowd of guests and attendees. Marianna was sitting on Ava’s father’s lap and Eleanora was on Zac’s shoulders. “Even if they hate it every time I tell them that I’m pregnant.”

“At least you got married before you had any of them,” said Charlotte and Ava nodded as she twisted her wedding band around her finger. “Though my parents would be pissed if I got married and pregnant within months of each other.”

Ava rolled her eyes, her parents hadn’t been pleased with her sending Zac home with the announcement that she was seventeen weeks pregnant with Marianna. Or when she sent him home again with the scan picture of Eleanora and her name scrawled on the bottom of the photo. They hadn’t been surprised with the news of Joshua, but they had been happier when she actually told them and not sent them Zac with a scan photo.

“They have no choice but to accept the life we choose to live,” said Ava, because no matter what, it was the truth. “I told Zac that I would marry him, but I always thought that I would be knocked up first.”

“That came what?” asked Charlotte as Ava took Joshua back into her arms as he opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Just a few days after?”

“Essentially,” said Ava, as she slipped Joshua into the sling under her dark blue robe. Joshua nuzzled against her breast and she sighed as his fingers curled into the fabric of her dress. She was already thinking about when she wanted to get pregnant next. “I was actually supposed to get pregnant with Marianna when Zac came down to see me during spring break. But instead we went to my sixteen week scan and found out that we were having a girl.”

Charlotte knew this part of the story, she had watched Ava’s body change and grow through her first two pregnancies. She had watched Ava tote Marianna around to classes and offices and the library. She had also watched her tote Eleanora around just like she had with Marianna.

“Well you have a boy now,” said Charlotte and Ava nodded, as she felt her son’s warm breath on her chest. “Any plans for more?”

“At least a few more,” said Ava, knowing that she sounded crazy to Charlotte. She was an only child with divorced parents who traded her off every week and holiday that they could. She hadn’t believe Ava the first time she showed her a picture of herself and her siblings. “We want a big family, and Zac’s happy with the landscaping business, his cravings are also starting to sell outside of the rez.”

Ava liked that Zac was always working on something, he took Marianna and Eleanora out to his workshop with him somedays. They always came back happy and cheerful and giggly, and it was all that she wanted for them. She loved that they got to have something together, the three of them had a place to call their own and be together.

“Alright, alright,” said Dean Whittaker from the podium and Charlotte smiled at Ava before turning around to go to her seat. “If all of our graduates could take their seats, their assigned seats one more time for us, then we can get started.”

Ava sat down between two men that she would never see again and felt Joshua huff against her chest. She knew that he was back to sleep again, and she hoped the ceremony would be quick enough that she could nurse him before he threw a fit for her.

“Ava Elena Fuller-Uley.”

Ava walked up to the stage, she shook hands, she kissed cheeks and felt Joshua squirm under her robes. She accepted her diploma and hurried back to her seat, but not before finding her family in the crowd of onlookers. She was halfway to her goal of providing proper mental healthcare on the reservation.

There was no denying that she would face backlash, all of the anonymous groups that started up on the rez got their funding cut quickly. Always when people started getting the proper amount of help they needed.

But being back on the rez for the last three years, she had been able to work with the hospital, the rez clinic, and the two clinics in Port Angeles to start and get the proper channels working again. They needed help, alcoholism had plagued their people for years.

It was easier to keep them trapped on the rez than let them leave and educate themselves and the world to their problems.

Somedays, their power went out for hours at a time, and somedays the lost their running water. There were nights that she spent in her parents’ house and some nights that she sent Zac out get a few gallons of fresh water from the diner.

It wasn’t fair that they had to suffer because they lived on the rez, or more so because they _wanted_ to live on their land.

“Congratulations baby,” whispered Zac as he kissed her forehead. Ava smiled and kissed him back, as Joshua started fussing under her robe.

“He’s hungry.”

Zac nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulders leading them away. It was embarrassing to have to nurse in a bathroom stall, but today wasn’t the day to make that fight.

“We did it baby boy,” whispered Ava as she caressed Joshua’s chubby cheek and ran a finger through his spikey black hair. Joshua was different than his sisters, he was fussy and loud and needy. Part of her wondered if it was because her time was split between him and his sisters and the very limited time she had with Zac.

It was strange, she knew that she wouldn’t had survived her last two year at UCLA without her daughters. Being pregnant and married and in a long distance relationship, trying to make it work with a twelve hundred mile difference between them and limited contact. Part of her almost wished that she had the distance, there was something desperate about being away from the people you love.

“We did it little one.”

~`~

Ava giggle as Zac kissed her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist. His fingers played with the hem of her shirt and moved them up under her shirt. In the living room, she could hear the girls laughing and Joshua bouncing around.

“Home for the holidays I see,” whispered Zac as Ava pushed his hands off of her and turned around to face him. “ _Can I call you ‘babe’ for the weekend_?”

“I thought I was your baby girl?”

Ava smiled up at him and wrapped her arm around his neck before pulling his face down to hers and kissing him softly. She ran her fingers along his jaw and smiled when he kissed her again.

“Mama?”

Ava pulled away from Zac and looked at Joshua, he was no longer her little fussy baby who wanted her to hold him all the time. He was now a four year old little boy who loved to chase after his older sisters.

“Duty calls,” whispered Ava, pushing his hands off of her again and waddling over to Joshua. She had never made it so far with any of her other pregnancies. “Hi baby boy, what can I do for you?”

Joshua put his ear to her stomach and wrapped his arms around her waist as well as he could. She played with his hair and smiled, they were having another daughter, but Joshua was just happy to be an older sibling.

Marianna was already seven and Eleanora was just behind her at six. It was amazing being able to watch her children grow and change and become the people they were always meant to be. Her daughters were both stubborn and headstrong, and Joshua was still loud and loved to be held.

“Hey buddy,” said Zac, bending down to pull him into his arms, “let’s let mama finish what she was doing, I know you’re hungry.”

“But you were talking to mama,” said Joshua as Zac carried him into the living room. Ava rolled her eyes and returned to their dinner, Zac was just trying to get laid when the kids fell asleep later that night.

Or just trying to lighten the mood.

“I know that look, how far apart are they?” asked Zac as he pried her fingers off of the sink.

“Two more weeks and I would’ve made it to term,” Ava told him as she squeezed his fingers. “These kids are going to be the death of me.”

“It’s what we wanted, baby,” whispered Zac as he held her close. “Emilia wants to meet the word.”

“I thought we decided on Sophia,” said Ava, they had been going back and forth on the name since they found out they were having another daughter. “The girls like Sophia.”

“Joshua likes Emilia though, and so do I,” said Zac and Ava smiled, as a pain shot up her back. She loved feeling her baby inside of her, loved having them to hold and cuddle against her chest, but giving birth was a bitch.

Ava let out a frustrated groan as her water broke, she knew her newest daughter wasn’t far behind now. She never lasted much longer after her water broke.

Zac made several phone calls and held her hand as their newest daughter was born on their kitchen floor. Just like with Marianna, Ava scooped her up in her arms and wiped the blood from her eyes and kissed her forehead. She didn’t have enough time to cry, not until Zac picked her up and carried her into their bathroom and placed her in the bathtub. Someone would need to clean up the mess she made in the kitchen, but it didn’t matter now.

“You are an Emilia aren’t you?” whispered Ava as she used the hem of her shirt to finish wiping off her newest daughter’s face. Her baby girl was quiet in her arms, but her eyes were open wide and after a few minutes, she let out a small whining cry. “You’re going to be trouble aren’t you? Be just like me and cause a world of problems for everyone. Mama knows all baby, you were a stubborn one, but ready to meet the world when it was time.”

Ava brushed her fingers through her fine, fine hair and kissed Emilia’s forehead again. She didn’t know if Emilia would be her youngest, her last baby, but she was something to behold.

They had Marianna Roslyn and Eleanora Lillian and Joshua Samuel, and now they had Emilia Holly.

~`~

“I know Emilia is only a few weeks old, but we ready for another baby,” said Zac as Ava braided Marianna’s hair. Ava was quiet, letting the silence float over them as she finished tying ribbons into her oldest daughter’s hair. “Our daughter’s come in twos.”

He wasn’t wrong, Ava knew that as she leaned down and kissed Marianna’s head and sent her off to play with her siblings. She crossed her arms and turned to Zac.

“Take the kids to school and I’ll work on putting Emilia down,” said Ava as she took Emilia from his arms and sat down in the chair Marianna had just been in to nurse.

Zac kissed her, then Emilia’s forehead before calling for their children to put on their shoes. It was raining outside, and part of her couldn’t believe it was February already. Another holiday season was upon them.

Emilia had been born in the quiet time between Christmas and New Year’s. Just as her sisters had been conceived during that time. It was strange to Ava how she and Zac went from season to season, holiday to holiday with their children and their lives.

Emilia didn’t fight her when Ava wrapped her up and put her in the same bassinet that all three of her older siblings had slept in before her. She was already more fussy than Joshua, she was more stubborn than Eleanora, and somehow she was also quieter than Marianna. She was a silent crier, but Ava always knew when she needed her.

“Are you sure?” asked Zac as he kissed her collarbone and pushed his length in between her hips. Ava moaned softly as she tangled her fingers into his hair, it was longer than she had ever known. He had stopped phasing when she came home to stay, he had a shiny faint scar on his shoulder from her teeth.

She kissed him and rolled her hips, wanting him deeper inside of her. It was like when she got pregnant with Eleanora, she only wanted to be closer to him.

She didn’t care about the consequences, she got the okay a few days ago to have sex again, and she wanted to have Zac make love to her.

Zac went slow, his hips moving at a gentle pace and Ava felt tears slip from her eyes as they came together. She reached down and squeezed his balls softly as she kissed him and rolled them over.

She was tired from sleepless nights and long days. Part of her thankful that her older children were in school now, even if it was just preschool for Joshua. It gave her time to spend with Emilia and Zac if he wasn’t working.

Ava was never more thankful that she nursed already as Zac squeezed her tender breasts and played with her nipples. Her body was tired and her legs were sore and Zac’s mouth was hot and warm on her neck and shoulders and lips.

“Her name will be Sophia this time,” whispered Ava between kisses as Zac held her hips and she grind down hard against his. She knew that in the next few moments he was going to roll them over and take her completely. “I’m not changing my mind on it.”

“I’m surprised you let up this time honestly,” whispered Zac as he rolled them over so she was on her back. “You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”

“I just know what I want and when I want it,” Ava told him, suddenly knowing that she would do the thing he liked with her tongue. It had been a while.

Zac smiled and kissed her the unspoken ‘I know’ passing between them as Ava tightened her legs around his hips.

~`~

Ava curled up on the bathroom floor and held her stomach.

She had the seven pregnancy tests lined up in the sink for Zac and smiled as she remembered when she had mailed them to him, twice. After Eleanora, he believed her when she told him that she was pregnant.

“Mama,” said Marianna, poking her head into the bathroom and staring at her Ava curled up on the floor. She opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped as she looked at the pregnancy tests in the sink. “I thought you and daddy were done after Sophia.”

“Me too,” said Ava as Marianna rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor with her. Ava wrapped her arm around her oldest baby’s shoulders and kissed her forehead before tucking her under her chin. “This is daddy’s fault.”

“Mama,” said Marianna and Ava closed her eyes, the bathroom needed to be cleaned, but this was the kids bathroom, it was never clean. “I don’t want another baby sister.”

Ava made herself breath, she held Marianna and remembered the first time she called her ‘mama’. Marianna had been eleven months old and Ava had just given birth to Eleanora. Hearing her daughter call for her, want her, it had been the most magical thing in the whole world.

“I always wanted a big family,” whispered Ava, not opening her eyes. “I knew when I was a little girl and I would sit in between my brothers, I knew that I was where I belonged. I wanted that for my own family, and your daddy hated being the baby and the only boy. He always wished that he had more siblings.”

“That doesn’t mean that you keep having babies mama,” said Marianna and Ava could hear the emotion in her voice. She reached her hand up and blindly wiped away her tears. Marianna was so smart and head strong and beautiful, she looked just like Zac, with his eyes and silky hair and big goofy smile.

“I know that you’re fifteen and it’s embarrassing for you and Eleanora that me and daddy keep having babies, but it’s what we want, baby girl.”

Ava opened her eyes as the door opened again and Zac appeared in the doorway. He stared down at them and Ava sighed as Marianna pushed herself out of Ava’s arm and left the bathroom. Zac bent down and picked her up in her arms, he cradled her and carried her into their bedroom, putting her down on the bed where Sophia and Emilia were both sleeping.

“It’s a boy,” whispered Ava as Zac sat on the floor in front of her. She felt Sophia curl up against her back, and Ava rested her hand on her stomach, in a few months, there would be no hiding this secret.

It seemed that no one understood that she wanted another baby.

She blamed this newest one on Zac, but that was because she knew that everyone would be more upset with her than they always were. She had been the family scapegoat for years, in her own family and in the one she made with Zac.

“I believe you,” whispered Zac as he moved forward and kissed her. It was so different now from when was crying on her dirty bathroom floor in LA sixteen years ago on the phone with Zac.

“Zachariah,” whispered Ava as he pulled her off the bed and into his arms on the floor. His mouth warm on hers as he pulled off her shirt. “Zachariah the girls are sleeping in here.”

She giggled as he got up and carried Emilia and Sophia down the hall to their bedroom, the old pink nursery. Marianna and Eleanora had moved into the one upstairs bedroom, and Joshua had his own bedroom across the hall from them.

Ava moaned when Zac pushed into her, their clothes a mess on the floor and their door locked to any unwanted visitors. His hands were soft on her body and she nearly came as he began softly sucking on her nipples.

Each thrust of his hips, his balls slapping against her swollen clit, it was bringing her closer and closer to him. She was coming around him, milking him for all he had as she had done a few weeks ago when she told him that she needed them to have another baby.

They groaned together when he pulled himself out of her and Ava was grateful for Eleanora’s loud thumping music above them, and her children’s ability to sleep through any noise. Emilia and Sophia would be asleep for at least another hour, but Ava didn’t see her and Zac leaving their room for a while.

Zac pressed his fingers against her clit and began rubbing her and pinching the skin. Ava moved so she was on her hands and let Zac take her from behind as she stood on all fours.

“Baby girl,” moaned Zac, his hips snapping hard against hers and his fingers rubbing her clit and squeezing her breasts. This was so much better than a few weeks ago when they went for a drive and had sex in the truck cab. They had come back home and found the kids running around and screaming, but Ava wouldn’t have changed anything about that day.

She sucked on his tip and licked his balls before rubbing his length in her hands. She put his cock in her mouth, taking in as much of him as she could and flicking her tongue around his tip like she knew he liked.

“Ava, Ava, Ava baby,” whined Zac and Ava swallowed him down, while their relationship always seemed to be changing, there were so many things that stayed the same.

She curled up against him, letting him thrust into her lazily as she kissed him. They both like the taste of themselves on the other’s lips. They had married each other so quickly and been separated for so long that when they were together it was spent exploring each-others bodies. When they were separated, they talked on the phone, they wrote letters, they texted and video chatted, they learn everything they could about each other while separated so when they were together they could be physical.

“No wonder we have five kids,” whispered Ava, squirming and climbing on top of him. Zac smiled at her as she rocked her hips, above them, Eleanora and Marianna were singing along to the music.

“Six,” said Zac, resting his hand on her still flat stomach, or as flat as it had been after she had Marianna. Zac didn’t say anything about her weight over the years, it took Marianna for Ava to realize that she wasn’t naturally thin like her mother, or at least her body wasn’t going to jump back to a size four after having two daughters in as many years.

She had curves she never had before.

“Our last,” whispered Ava, holding his hand over her stomach. She was sad, but they both knew that when Sophia was born, that they would have at least one more baby. They wanted a big family with at least six kids. It was the dream for them, among the many other things they wanted.

“I think we should move the younger girls upstairs,” said Zac and Ava shook her head. He could fight with Marianna and Eleanora about that. “There is more than enough room for all four of them.”

“I am not going to agree or disagree with you,” Ava told him, as she climbed off of him and walked to their closet, pulling out one of his flannels and a pair of leggings. She kissed him as she walked to bedroom door, flipping the lock and letting the wave of noise, of her children taking over everything as they always did.

She grabbed Marianna as she walked passed her to go into the kitchen. Ava held her close and kissed her cheek, it was strange to her that her oldest daughter was already fifteen and would be sixteen when the baby came. Ava had given birth to Marianna in the back of a car, crying and screaming and had picked her up and held her carefully in her arms before her Uber driver finally made it to the hospital.

Eleanora had been her first and only baby born in a hospital, and Joshua had been born in the living room of her parents’ house. Both Emilia and Sophia had been born in their kitchen, Sophia had been her only baby to be born within a week of their due date.

“I love you,” Ava whispered as she kissed Marianna’s forehead and let her go. “Be patient with me baby girl.”

“I’m sorry I got angry mama,” said Marianna, and Ava smiled, the next nine months would be incredibly difficult for all of them, but Ava knew they would make it through.

~`~

Ava cried out in pain.

Her contractions were coming faster and stronger as the minutes passed by. Zac was holding her up, he was holding her against his chest, with his big hands holding her knees open.

Ava tried to catch her breath in the very limited time between contractions. Her whole body was shaking with pain, but she had Zac to hold her and Jessica to help coach her.

Her twins were ready to meet the world.

Marianna had piled up all of her younger siblings in her car and was taking them to dinner and a movie. A rare treat on a school night, but Ava knew that they wouldn’t be going to school tomorrow anyways.

“Mama you can do it,” said Eleanora as she held one of Ava’s hands and helped keep Ava’s foot planted on the ground. Eleanora had been the only one to ask to stay, she wanted to go to medical school or at least nursing school, she had been the most excited when Ava and Zac told their children they were having twins.

Marianna had already been furious about them moving Emilia and Sophia upstairs, adding in two instead of one new baby put her over the edge. The summer had been filled with simmering tempers and snaps and finally Zac bringing Marianna down to the rez clinic and making her talk, actually talk to both Ava and Zac.

Zac was the youngest and Ava was the second youngest in their families, the fear of being forgotten or pushed aside for a younger sibling never occurred to them.

Ava cried out again, she willed herself to push down as hard as she could. Her head fell back into Zac’s chest as the first baby screamed into the world. It was jolting and almost scary to hear, none of her other children had made such a loud noise as they came into the world.

“Just breathe baby,” whispered Zac as Ava reached out with shaking hands to hold her newest son. She wiped out his eyes and kissed his forehead as another wave of pain rolled over her.

Ava screamed clutched her son to her chest, feeling him wriggle and squirm against her. She knew that she needed to just get through the next few moments, next few minutes and it would be done, but she couldn’t focus on anything except for the pain.

“Mama let me take him,” said Eleanora, reached over and carefully pulling her baby brother from out of Ava’s arms.

Zac held Ava as she reached for their son, he pulled her back and she could hear him saying something to her, but she couldn’t hear. She couldn’t see her son as Eleanora and Jessica’s husband blocked her view.

And then the pain was gone.

Elisha came into the world with a loud scream and Dakota came into the world with a whimper and then a scream.

~`~

Ava wiped at her eyes as she curled herself up tight in her bed. Zac was wrapped around her, asleep, his arm wrapped around her.

For the first time since they had known each other, since they had sex, since they got married, she didn’t feel grounded. She remembered the stupid song she would sing over and over _‘tis the damn season_. She felt that kind of sad anger even now.

She had been crying on and off since their twins were born, she felt lost and scared, her children needed her and Zac needed her and she needed to be herself. She reached forward, pulling Dakota to her chest, he was small still but growing chubby and big like all of his siblings before him, like Elisha was now.

It was funny that they had a runt in their family, Ava had been that in her own family growing up. She was sure that this was why she felt lost, it was strange to see yourself in someone else you loved and cared for, in someone that you carried inside of yourself and brought into the world.

She knew that her life would probably be defined by Zac and her life together. It wouldn’t be defined by her work done in the community, it wouldn’t be defined by her degrees, and it wouldn’t be defined by her accomplishments. It would be defined by a five year age difference and two years apart with two daughters born in that time.

Zac had come to her in the hospital when he finally landed in LA after Marianna was born. Ava had no idea how he found her, but she didn’t question it when he appeared in front of her and kissed her. She had never felt more warm, than in that moment.

“Go to sleep Ava, I’ll feed them if they wake up,” whispered Zac, brushing her hair out of his face. Ava turned her head and glared at him, she didn’t even know where this sudden anger was coming from.

“No!” she told him forcefully, her whole body was shaking and she was amazed that Elisha and Dakota and Emilia were all still asleep. She didn’t even remember when Emilia had climbed into their bed, but Ava could recognize her even in the dark.

“Ava this isn’t healthy,” whispered Zac, and Ava stared at his face, his light eyes, his sharp cheek bones, his defined jaw, the things she loved and was drawn most to him.

“Don’t start,” she told him, clutching Elisha to her chest as she sat up. She was trapped between her daughter and husband, but she wasn’t against climbing over either of them. “And don’t touch me.”

Zac ignored her as he sat up and grabbed her face in his hands, he rubbed his thumb over her cheek and leaned forward, kissing her softly. Ava felt herself sob when he pulled away, she had helped quite a few women in the tribe with post-partum depression, but the thought that she had it now….

“Go to sleep, baby, please?” whispered Zac, carefully taking Elisha out of her arms. “Go upstairs, and sleep in Emilia’s bed, and don’t come down until the morning. You’ve been awake for days, baby, you need to rest.”

It was the pattern she had fallen into since the last two weeks of her last pregnancy. She knew that she had fallen into a paranoia, she was scared about having her last baby, babies. She had always known that she was going to have a big family, she was going to have at least five kids, and she had done that easily.

Having her sons, her twin boys, it was an experience that she couldn’t take back, she couldn’t make herself marvel at like she had with the others.

“Please Ava, you need to rest,” whispered Zac, and Ava nodded. He scooped her up carefully and Ava closed her eyes as he carried her upstairs to the girls’ bedroom.

~`~

“I knew you were always going to be trouble,” whispered Ava as she held Emilia and kissed her forehead. Her first grandchild in Emilia’s arms. She had watched her brother become a parent at sixteen, she never imagined her daughter would become a parent at fifteen. “I told your father the day you were born that you would be troublesome. Don’t worry though, we’re not angry. My mama was always angry when I told her I was pregnant.”

Emilia was shaking in her arms, Ava’s grandchild, her first grandchild was staring up at them with bright eyes and chubby cheeks and spikey black hair. She was a beautiful baby, Ava would always remember that about her.

Ava helped Emilia sit up and helped her hold her daughter so she could nurse. She couldn’t ignore the tears on Emilia’s face, giving birth on the kitchen floor wasn’t for everyone, but Emilia hadn’t even cried.

“I can’t give her away mama,” whispered Emilia as she curled her fingers into Ava’s shirt and held her close. “Asher and I want this.”

Asher was four years older than Emilia and Ava wondered if she would’ve been her if she allowed herself to be with Zac when she was younger. Ava kissed Emilia’s forehead and held her close, her daughter was getting a jump start on her life. Emilia wanted many of the same things that Ava always did.

“Asher isn’t moving in here,” Ava told her, because she knew that Zac wouldn’t allow it. He had gone out and nearly castrated Asher after Emilia told them she was pregnant, with a scan picture just as Ava had sent Zac home with scan pictures of Marianna and Eleanora for her parents. “But you’re moving into Joshua’s old bedroom.”

Emilia nodded as her daughter let out a small cry, and Emilia put her on her breast again.

“Her name is Camila, mama,” whispered Emilia, as she slumped against Ava’s body. “She’s a little warrior.”

Ava nodded as Zac appeared in the kitchen doorway, he carefully scooped up Emilia in his arms and carried her away. Ava stared at the mess on her kitchen floor, any moment now Sophia, Dakota, and Elisha would be home from school.

Emilia wouldn’t be returning to school for at least another year.

~`~

Ava kissed Zac softly, it was such a sad thing to watch their children leave them.

Marianna lived in Seattle now, with her wife Lydia and sons, she worked for one of the tech companies as an engineer and Ava was proud of her.

Eleanora got her nursing degree, and now had three children with a pair of twins on the way. Dannie waited on her hand and foot, even when she didn’t want him around.

Joshua was happy creating his carvings and working as a landscaper. Anything that he could do with his hands brought him joy.

Emilia had given her five more grandchildren after Camila, each of them sooner than Ava ever imagined. Her second daughter was born a year after her first and she was pregnant now with another. But she was happy, happy with her small hoard of children.

Sophia was in LA, still studying to finish her law degree and pass the bar exam. She was like Ava in the first two years of her marriage to Zac, bouncing back and forth to La Push between pregnancies and children. Her husband William waiting for her to return while also raising their three oldest, while Sophia held onto to their youngest.

And finally their twins, Elisha and Dakota were moving out, having graduated and were ready to truly face the world.

“Ava baby,” moaned Zac and Ava kissed him. She would never grow tired of him, of his warm hands, his full length inside of her, his weight on top of her as his hips snapped hard against hers. She was well pass the age of an unexpected or expected pregnancy, not that she ever worried much about that.

Ava closed her eyes and relaxed as Zac pulled out of her and wrapped her arms tight around her. It was strange to not have to lock the door anymore, to not hear screaming in the hall as their children ran up and down the halls.

“I love you,” whispered Zac and Ava smiled as his lips pressed to her neck and collarbone and shoulders. “I always have.”

Ava nodded, and rolled over, bringing his mouth down to hers and curling her fingers into his hair. She had always loved Zac, ever since she was a little girl. He was her brother’s friend, he was always around, always happy and kind and sweet, he made her laugh as a child and as a teenager.

She wished that he never told her that he imprinted on her. She would’ve made her way to him anyways, it was always bound to happen. Five years never mattered to her, just as it didn’t matter to him.

“I love you too darling,” whispered Ava, as his arm moved around her waist and his mouth pressed to hers. They had raised seven children, they had lived through hell and made it back to their own heaven together.

They were no longer children playing at adults, playing at being young parents, playing as young lovers.

Instead, they were just loves, parents, adults.

“Happy New Years.”

* * *

_Time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires_

_Now I'm missing your smile, hear me out_

_We could just ride around_

_And the road not taken looks real good now_

_And it always leads to you in my hometown_

_Sleep in half the day just for old times' sake_

_I won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay_

_So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends_

_Who'll write books about me, if I ever make it_

_And wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I'm fakin'_

_And the heart I know I'm breakin' is my own_

_To leave the warmest bed I've ever known_

_We could call it even_

_Even though I'm leavin'_

_And I'll be yours for the weekend_

_'Tis the damn season_

_We could call it even_

_You could call me babe for the weekend_

_'Tis the damn season, write this down_

_I'm stayin' at my parents' house_

_And the road not taken looks real good now_

_Time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires_

_Now I'm missing your smile, hear me out_

_We could just ride around_

_And the road not taken looks real good now_

_And it always leads to you in my hometown_

_It always leads to you in my hometown._

**Author's Note:**

> I still plan to write Emily and Sam's story, it is just taking a while, and I liked writing about Ava and Zac more at this moment.


End file.
